LET THE WEST HEED THE WARNING 59 



decreased, as is commonly supposed. That this 

 will continue is hardly to be expected. Up until 

 within the last decade vast tracts of new lands 

 have been opened each season and large yields from 

 these have tended to maintain the general average. 

 Further than that, the number of farm animals in 

 the country have also shown an increase. It is a 

 recognized fact that the increase in the productive 

 capacity keeps pace with the increase in the num- 

 ber of farm animals kept. 



Again, going back to figures, it has been shown 

 that a ICG-bushel crop of corn takes from the soil 

 about TOO pounds of nitrogen, 17 pounds of phos- 

 phorus and 19 pounds of potassium in the grain, 

 and about 48 pounds of nitrogen, six pounds of 

 phosphorus and 52 pounds of potassium in the 

 stalks. Now, if this grain and forage is all fed 

 on the farm about three-fourths of the nitrogen 

 and phosphorus and one-third of the potassium is 

 left behind and is available for future crops, pro- 

 vided the manure is properly taken care of. If the 

 manure is neglected one-half of the fertilizer con- 

 stituents are frequently dissipated in three or four 

 months. 



FARM MANURE VERY VALUABLE 



Now, to show how really valuable farm manure 

 is it must be remembered that each ton of fresh 

 manure contains about 10 pounds of nitrogen, 2 

 pounds of phosphorus and 8 pounds of potassium. 

 As the nitrogen used in crop production can easily 

 be collected from the air by growing leguminous 

 crops, there is no reason why there should be any 

 expense in supplying this element. One ton of clover 

 hay contains about 40 pounds of nitrogen, 5 pounds 



